


Slip And Fall

by JustAnOffalyGirl



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: And whoops I slipped, Athena Grant and Bobby Nash are Evan "Buck" Buckley's Parents, Christopher Diaz is a National Treasure, F/M, First Kiss, Good Parent Bobby Nash, Hurt Evan "Buck" Buckley, Parent Athena Grant, Tumblr made me do it, pre-relationships, this was supposed to be just a oneshot, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26052670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnOffalyGirl/pseuds/JustAnOffalyGirl
Summary: Buck just slipped and landed the wrong way, that's all. His wrist's probably just bruised or sprained. Plus, the rest of his team have plans for after their shift, he isn't going to make them have to stay back to check it, he'll get himself to the ER. AKA Buck forgets the 118 are a family.
Relationships: Athena Grant/Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Athena Grant, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 36
Kudos: 670





	1. Just My Wrist

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first 9-1-1 fic. Not beta read, kind of just came out of me after reading [this tumblr post](https://babybuckleydiaz.tumblr.com/post/617740221048602624/i-just-want-a-fic-where-buck-gets-hurt-on-call-but) when I haven't written fic in years. Whoops. Kinda sorta pre-Buddie, but only if you squint. Featuring Evan Buckley's firetruck of issues, and parental Bobby and Athena. I don't own 9-1-1, obviously.

Buck picked himself off the ground, and immediately knew he’d hit his head hard. His vision was fine, but he could already feel the goose egg from where his head had hit the inside of his helmet and bounced back, and his left wrist was in a lot of pain. He flexed his fingers, barely, but that satisfied him he could keep going. They nearly had the house fire out, and he didn’t want Hen or Chimney worrying about him instead of helping the victims.

Finally, the fire was out a smoking wreck of what was previously a two-family unit. Buck was put on hose duty, and he managed it barely, squeezing excess water out of the hose with his left arm while turning the wheel with his right. It wasn’t the neatest, but it’d do for being hour 23 of a 24-hour shift.

“118, let’s go,” Bobby called out, calling everyone to the truck. Buck got in last, sitting against the left side so he could let the cool metal soothe his wrist. 

"What's everyone doing for their day off?" Barnett said as they neared the firehouse. It was almost change-over time, and Buck couldn't wait to get back to the house, change, and get himself to the ER to see what was up with his wrist. It was hopefully nothing, but with his history he couldn't trust it.

"Picking up Chris from Abuela's, then we're heading to the beach. I promised I'd bring him before school started so it has to be this weekend. Wanna come, Buck?" Eddie asked, nudging Buck's knee with his own.

"Nah, I've got a hot date lined up with me, my couch, and a few episodes of The Sopranos. I'll try and stay up till I crash at like 8 and sleep like a baby." He responded, giving a smile that he hoped was an actual smile and not the painful grimace he thought it was.

"You deserve a good day, all of you, it was a hard shift," Bobby spoke from the driver's seat, neatly bringing them into the station. They all got out, and Buck felt slightly woozy getting the few steps down from the engine. He shook his head before going straight to the lockers. It didn't take long for him to get dressed, and he thanked whatever deity looked down on him that he'd brought a regular tee with him to change into after his shift, instead of a button-up. He picked up his bag and went to leave before Eddie caught up with him.

"Hey man, you sure you don't want to come to the beach with us? Chris was saying he hasn't seen you in a week or so." Eddie held open the door as they went through it towards the parking lot.

"Nah, thanks though. I miss my favourite Diaz. But I need to have a day to myself. I'll call over Monday night and we can do pizza for his first day back at school?" Buck missed Christopher, but a day at the beach and around the water was just too much for him to have right now.

They waved goodbye, and Buck hauled himself into his Jeep, muttering as he pulled the door shut and it pulled on his wrist. Bruising was coming up, and he was pretty sure there might be a break in it, not just a bad sprain like he'd thought. Turning the ignition and putting the car into drive, as he twisted the steering wheel he felt agony in it, so he quickly put his Jeep back in park.

Buck grabbed his cell and lifted it to call someone on his team, but they were all looking forward to their day off. USC Medical wasn't too far away, and once he got on the expressway it was a clear journey, or at least as clear as LA traffic would give him. He steeled himself, put the car into drive, and set off.

The ten-minute drive was harder than he wanted to admit, but he finally made it and pulled in to park in the lot. He'd never arrived there without going in an ambulance, but worked out where he needed to head from the signs. There was a woman in her thirties at the reception desk as he walked in, and he attempted to smile, but she just looked bored.

"Welcome to USC Medical ER, our current wait time is approximately three hours. Do you still need assistance?" She asked, staring at the screen in front of her.

"Yeah, please. I hurt my wrist, I think it's either badly sprained or broken." Buck tried to get more out, but she slid a clipboard across to him.

"Fill this out, then give it back to me. We'll try triage you within 30 minutes of you returning that to me."

He grabbed a seat and filled it in. It was pretty simple, but the weirdness of having to fill out something like it compared to being brought in in the ambulance didn't phase him. After returning it, he pulled out his phone for a round of Candy Crush, but he was called in for triage sooner than he expected.

"Evan Buckley, is that right?" The nurse asked, staring at his paperwork as he entered the cubicle.

"All present and correct, yeah," Buck replied, sitting down on the seat she indicated.

"Can you tell me what brought you in today Evan?" She asked, pulling out a penlight and checking his eyes. Buck went through the story, the fire, falling when the wood he stood on gave way, driving himself to the hospital.

"And LAFD didn't bring you in? Do you know which station it was? They're supposed to bring in all victims of any issues like that, but some of them don't bother if you can walk, which is pointless."

"No, no, I'm a firefighter. I didn't think it was serious till my shift ended, and none of them could come, they'd stuff to do. I just wanted to get checked and make sure it's ok." Buck tried doing his 'this always calms civilians down' smile, and it sort of worked on the nurse.

"Oh, ok. I'm going to send you to radiology to have a look at that wrist. I think it's probably broken, but we won't know for sure until we have a look at it. Did you hurt anywhere else?" She asked.

"I fell and hit my head, but I think my helmet kept me there, so we're fine. I broke my leg a couple of years ago, had rods in it for a few months and it caused blood clots. Other than that I should be fine." 

The nurse made a phone call, and Buck was treated to an orderly wheeling him to the x-ray suite. He offered to walk, but she glared at him the same way Athena did when he did something stupid, so he shut up quickly. They moved him through quickly, and the images of his wrist were taken in less than ten minutes. The orderly had waited, and brought him back to the ER and deposited Buck into a waiting cubicle.

Word had gotten around that he was LAFD because things moved quickly from there. The orthopedist arrived and confirmed that there was a break in two of his wrist bones, and they needed more views of it.

"Do you have any family or anyone you want to call? There's a possibility you'll need surgery for your wrist, it'd be a good idea to have someone here." Buck thought for a moment, but he didn't want to be a burden on anyone. Maddie was in work, everyone else was enjoying their rest days with their family or were busy.

"No, I'm fine. What's the plan from now?" Buck responded, pulling his sleeve back above his wrist, where the bruising was even worse.

"I'm going to get you some painkillers to make you feel a bit better. You're already down for a head CT because of your fall, so I'm going to get them to scan your wrist as well. This way we should be able to be sure if we can give you a cast, or if you'll need surgery. Worst case scenario is external supports on it, but I'm hopeful we could avoid that. I think we might need a rod in it for a few weeks to help with healing, but with your history I'd rather avoid that." The orthopedist was in his forties, and serious. Buck appreciated it rather than someone who'd just sugarcoat everything, so he nodded back at him.

Time passed slowly waiting for the scan, and Buck felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out, and it was a video from Eddie of Chris. He hit play and watched the few seconds.

"Yo, Chris, what did you want to say to Buck?" Eddie called his son, whose face lit up at the mention of Buck.

"WE MISS YOU BUCK! Come to the beach with us soon!" Chris yelled, waving his hands. 

"Come here, mijo, let me put more sunscreen on your back. Look what you're missing, Buck, we'll call and see you later. Chris wants to see you." Eddie ended the video there, and Buck's chest tightened slightly at the words. He'd need to be home by about six for them, and it was noon now. It'd be fine.

A different orderly arrived, and Buck took his place in the wheelchair to the CT suite. It didn't take long, but he hated being shoved into this tube and left in it while weird noises clicked around him taking his images. It didn't take too long, and he was being pulled out of the tube and brought back down to the ER, where the orthopedist was waiting in his cube, along with a different doctor. The other one was younger, in dark blue scrubs compared to the orthopedist's neatly pressed suit and tie.

"Mr Buckley, this is Doctor Evans, she's a neurologist. We've taken a look at your CT, and nothing is wrong fortunately with your head, but she wanted to make sure she checked you out." Buck nodded at the doctor and followed along with her checks. She nodded at the end.

"Thank you, Mr Buckley. You're looking good, no concussion. Want me to get the plaster of Paris?" The last sentence was directed at the orthopedist, who nodded.

"Good news, a cast is going to be fine for you. You'll be completely off active duty for six weeks, and then you'll have another month or so of light-duty, EMT work and so on. Nothing that would involve you rappelling down buildings or anything like that. I'll cast you up, give you a prescription for painkillers, and you can head off." 

It didn't take long, and Buck picked lime green for the outside of his cast. At least Christopher would get a kick out of the colour, and he may as well have a fun one for a while. It was weird and uncomfortable, but finally the cast was on and dry, heavy on his arm.

"You'll need someone to give you a ride home, do you want me to call anyone?" Dr Phillips asked, packing away the plaster and water that he'd used to cast Buck up.

"Nah, it's fine. I'm going to get a Lyft home, I'll get a friend to pick up my car for me later on too. Thanks for everything, doc, I appreciate it." Buck awkwardly waved goodbye as he left the cube, and walked out to the front desk. 

He thumbed out his phone and opened the Lyft app, checking to see how long it'd take and how much it'd cost for him to get home. He turned, and accidentally hit into a cop he hadn't seen.

"Oh god, I'm sorry, I was staring at my phone. Sorry!" He blurted, before looking up and staring at Athena Carter-Nash, who fixed him with her patented glare.

"Buckaroo, what are you doing here? Were you visiting someone?" She asked, looking him up and down, her eyes widening as she spotted the sling around his neck containing the green cast going from elbow to mid-hand.

"I broke my wrist on a call. I didn't want to bug anyone, so I just said I'd come up and get it sorted after work. I thought it was only bruised, so I didn't want to bother Hen and Chim at the call. I'm gonna get a Lyft and head home so I can call Bobby and get him to take me off the schedule and be the man behind for the next few weeks." Athena, to her credit, let Buck blurt everything out, her eyes narrowing at his explanation before sympathy filled them.

"Buck, come on. I'm driving you to my place. I know for a fact Bobby isn't going to sleep till nine tonight, so he'll feed you and probably load you with leftovers so you don't have to worry about cooking." Buck let her take his arm and lead him out to her cruiser, helping him into the back seat. She took her own seat before getting on the radio.

"This is 727-L-30, I'm taking lunch a bit early, family stuff. I'll be back in 30." 

They weren't far from Bobby and Athena's, and the lull of the car almost got Buck to sleep before they arrived, but he woke with the braking of the car. Athena helped him out, making sure his sling was supporting him properly after moving. She opened the door, helping him down the stairs as Bobby came into the living room.

"'Thena, you on lunch? I just finished prepping dinner, I didn't think you'd be..." his voice trailed off as he took in Buck, looking pitiful and sheepish with his arm in his sling.

"I found one of your misfit toys leaving the ER when I was leaving after getting a statement. Seems he thought he bruised his wrist on a call, and didn't want to bother anyone to check it out, so he made his way to the ER himself after shift. He was going to get a Lyft home, so I've brought him here for us to feed him up before he heads home." Athena raised one eyebrow, daring Bobby to say anything. Behind her, Buck waved awkwardly.

"Come on in, son. I'll have food in 30 minutes, have you eaten since last night?" Buck shook his head to Bobby's question and immediately received a muffin.

"Eat this, you need something now. Did you tell Eddie or anyone what happened?" Bobby immediately felt his concern for Buck grow. This was so incredibly like him, to not use the supports they were all trying to make sure he knew about.

"Nah, I mean, everyone was busy. Hen had to bring Nia to the paediatrician, Chim was having a breakfast date with Maddie before she went to work, and Eddie was bringing Christopher to the beach. I didn't want to disturb them from their day off, I thought it was a sprain." Buck took a bite of the muffin after speaking before realising he was ravenous and eating the rest in a few quick swallows.

"I'm heading back out, Buck, I'll get someone to pick up your car and drive it back to your place later. Where's the lot ticket?" Buck pulled the ticket out from his pocket and handed it to Athena, giving a sheepish smile as he did.

"Thanks, 'Thena," he mumbled around his last mouthful of baked good, leaving her to grin at his face. She kissed Bobby quickly before leaving, waving as she went.

The two men ate, before Bobby settled Buck on the couch with a blanket over him and a bottle of water, watching as he took a pain pill. It didn't take too long before Buck fell asleep, snoring softly to Judge Judy yelling at hapless individuals. Bobby took a photo of him with his mouth agape, before sending it in their group message with the caption "Buck didn't realise he broke his wrist on a call, if anyone's looking for him, he's home."


	2. Eddie's Reaction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie finds out that Buck got hurt and didn't tell anybody.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a one and done. But people asked how did Eddie react to Buck being injured, and whoops I slipped and wrote nearly 3000 words when I was supposed to be working. Oh well.

Eddie stared at his phone, blinking twice at the image Bobby had added to their group chat. He tapped and opened it, realising he was right the first time he looked at it. Buck was lying on Bobby’s couch, his arm in a sling. He’d seemed fine when they were leaving work, what the hell had gone on?

“Hey Chris, we need to leave ok? I need to go to Bobby’s house.” Eddie picked up their belongings and shoved them into their bag. Chris got his shirt on, and Eddie leaned down to let him have a piggy back to the truck. Chris was safely seated in the truck, belt on and crutches on the seat behind him. Eddie threw their bag into the flatbed and got in, putting his phone on handsfree and dialling Bobby’s number before he even got out of the lot.

“Hey Eddie, he’s fine, don’t worry. He’s asleep at the minute.” Bobby didn’t even let Eddie get a word out, but Chris let out a cry at Bobby’s words.

“Who’s asleep? What’s happening, Dad?” He asked, turning his head to his dad. Eddie groaned, how did he explain what he didn’t know.

“Chris, is that you? Buck had an accident and broke his wrist. He’s fine, but he’s at my house. Your dad’s gonna pick him up and bring him home and I bet you’ll want to play with Harry, right? He got a new lego set you can try with him.” Bobby’s voice was calm, and Eddie let out a small sigh of relief. If Bobby was able to joke with Chris, Buck would be fine. Sore and embarrassed, but fine.

They got onto the freeway and the 45 minute drive to Bobby’s didn’t seem as long as it actually took. Chris sang along to songs on the radio, keeping Eddie’s mood up as he watched his kid out of the corner of his eye dance to Eye of the Tiger. Finally they made it to Bobby, and Chris opened the door himself, getting down the steps carefully, a crutch on each arm. He made it to the front door, and Eddie rang the bell, waiting for someone to open it.

Harry opened the door, smiling when he saw Chris with his dad. “Chris! Bobby said you were coming. C’mon, Dad got me a lego Batman set, wanna make it?” Harry helped Chris down the steps, and the duo went to Harry’s room, closing the door firmly behind them. The noise from the door woke Buck, who shot nearly straight up at it as if waking from a nightmare.

“Buck, you’re ok, it was just Chris and Harry,” Bobby spoke first, moving over to grab his shoulder to let him feel the pressure and ground himself. Buck took a breath before looking up and seeing Eddie.

“Hey, why did you come back this way? I thought you and Christopher were having a beach day?” He asked, and Eddie wanted to slap him. Did he not think that they’d come as soon as they knew he was hurt?

“Someone told me that you fell and weren’t well, so I wanted to check you out for myself. Plus, you know when Chris thinks someone isn’t ok he wants to be there for himself.” The lie came out of Eddie’s mouth too smoothly, he didn’t want to think about why he was using his son to cover for his insecurities. Nope, that was going into a box that wasn’t getting opened up.

“I’m fine, honestly. Bruised, my ego damaged a little, a sweet cast on my arm for the next six weeks, and probably an angry sister when she’s off her shift and she finds out I didn’t want to interrupt her breakfast date. But it’ll be fine.” Buck raised his right hand behind his head, stretching before taking the blanket off his legs and standing. “I’m feeling better, Bobby, thanks for letting me crash. I’m gonna get a Lyft home, I just want my own bed and a pizza delivery. I’ll see you Tuesday?”

“I’ll bring you home.” The words were out of Eddie’s mouth before he’d even realised he’d said it, but it made sense. “Christopher is playing with Harry, we can leave them for an hour or so, relax for a while, and I’ll bring you home. I’ll even pick up dinner on the way, and we can eat at yours like we planned anyway. You know how much my son wants his Bucky to be around.” Buck’s face softened, and Bobby smiled at their words.

“Sounds good to me, do the two of you want coffee? Is it time for your painkillers yet Buck?” He asked, moving into the kitchen with the practiced hand of a man who spent his spare time there.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Buck spoke, before getting cut off by his ringtone. He pulled his phone out and frowned for a moment. “Gimme a sec, it’s Maddie.”

He walked out to the patio, but Bobby and Eddie could still hear some of his conversation. Evidently Maddie knew that he’d hurt himself, and Buck’s protests weren’t being listened to.

“Mads, I’m fine. Yes, I broke my wrist, but I’m fine…You and Chim were going out for breakfast, I didn’t want to disturb you. I’m at Bobby’s, Eddie said he’ll drive me home and Athena is sorting out my car. I’ll be fine. How’d you know anyway?”

Bobby handed Eddie a mug as they watched Buck pace slightly, protesting to his big sister that he was a grownup and would be fine, no matter what she wanted to think. He ended the call with a promise to let her know when he was home. Bobby held out his mug as he walked in, and he took a long swallow of it before speaking.

“Bobby, did you tell everyone about my wrist?” He asked, staring the older man straight in the eyes as he did.

“Yeah, I took a photo of you on the couch and sent it to everyone. I didn’t want any worried phone calls if people couldn’t reach you and I thought Eddie would be heading to your place later at least.” Bobby’s voice was even, his tone firm, offering no room for argument.

“Ok, that makes sense. Because Chim forwarded it to Maddie and asked her if she knew what’d happened and why didn’t she tell him, so she freaked out. She’s working overtime till 10 today, otherwise I think you’d have nearly our whole shift here by now.” 

The three men sat and chatted about their last shift, and what would need to change for Buck coming back to work. He could still do most of the job, just not out on calls. It’d be a change for him, doing most of the paperwork the rest of the team normally split, but it’d mean he could still work with them and be on shift.

Christopher and Harry came out, showing off the bat mobile they’d painstakingly put together. When Chris saw Buck, he jumped into his arms, and Buck managed to catch him one handed. It didn’t take long before he noticed the cast on Buck’s arm.

“Buck, what’d you do to your arm? Does it hurt?” Chris asked, settling onto Buck’s lap and staring at the cast.

“I just hurt it, it’s ok though. But I do need someone to sign it for me, do you want to do the first signature?” Chris’s face lit up, and he nodded. “Bobby, do you have any Sharpies? I want Harry to sign it too, duh.” Harry smiled and ran into his bedroom, emerging with a 24 pack of colours. The two boys took their turns, with a blocky “Christopher” and a neater “Harry” taking up space on his arm. He smiled at the two, giving Christopher a hug while ruffling Harry’s hair.

“With that all designed, I think we should bring Buck home if that’s ok with you both?” Eddie asked, and goodbyes were said. Bobby took some time to pull frozen leftovers out and hand them over, making Eddie promise to get them into Buck’s freezer before they went home themselves.

Buck took the front seat this time, with Christopher sitting behind him asking if his arm hurt, and what happened, a million questions a second. The drive from Glendale to Eagle Rock wasn’t too far, but Eddie kept his eyes on Buck’s face the entire way through, spotting as he tensed up when they braked suddenly thanks to an idiot running a red light. He took an executive decision, and pulled off the freeway, getting into an In-n-Out he had spotted. Eddie ordered and paid, getting Buck to balance the drinks on his leg with his good hand. Sometimes the best thing you could have was a hot animal style double-double and a chocolate milkshake, and with Buck’s day he deserved the treat.

They made it to Buck’s apartment, and Eddie pulled into his normal visitor spot, switching off the engine and looking at his son and best friend. “We ready to head up and eat?” He was met with a cheer from Chris, and a smile from Buck.

Buck was quiet while they ate, and while they got a movie up on Disney Plus for Chris. They left him in the living room watching Moana as the two of them sat in Buck’s kitchen with a beer each, the sounds of Dwayne Johnson singing reaching them.

“Buck, why didn’t you say you weren’t ok? I thought there was something wrong, but you insisted you were fine so I didn’t want to push.” Eddie said after his first swallow of beer. He knew if he didn’t get it out now he wouldn’t, but didn’t Buck know how much he meant to the two of them? They would have been there for the entire time if he’d asked.

“You and Chris were going to the beach. I didn’t want to stop that, you promised you’d take him before he’s back in school on Monday. I could drive over fine, if I hadn’t seen Athena I would have made it home ok too.” Buck said slowly. As far as he was concerned, he’d done the right thing. What was the point in making someone else deal with his issues?

“So what? The beach isn’t as important as you. Chris and I could have gone tomorrow instead, that wouldn’t have made a difference to him and you know it. Man, why didn’t you just tell us you needed help?”

“Cause I see how you look at me!” Buck’s voice rose slightly, before he brought it back down so Christopher didn’t hear him. “Poor Buck, had his leg crushed and then nearly died in front of his coworkers. Then he sued the department for his job back. Then he got hurt on the job, again. He shouldn’t have bothered coming back if he broke his wrist on a scene.” His words were venomous, but Eddie knew they were aimed squarely at Buck himself, not anybody else.

“Fucking hell man, that’s not how any of us would see you. I saw you fall, I was worried. You were moving that hose, and you stood on a plank that gave way underneath you. It happens to all of us, it’s just your shitty luck that you landed the wrong way. It happens, we all get it and accept it. Why do you think Athena invited you back to her house when she saw you?” He stared at Buck until he lifted his head, their eyes connecting. 

“Because she felt sorry for me. Everyone does, cause I’m dumb Buck who can’t do anything right. Can’t keep a girlfriend without her running across the country or across an ocean away from me, can’t keep my sister safe, can’t keep the only kid who looks up to me safe. I just didn’t want to give everyone another reason to realise that I’m just dead weight.” A tear fell from Buck’s eyes at his words, and he quickly wiped it away. Stupid pills, making him say everything to everyone. Just because he knew it didn’t mean he had to bring it into the public.

“Buck, that’s bullshit. Bobby and Athena act like you’re their oldest child. May and Harry see you as a pseudo-brother. Chris treats you like a parent. I told you before, you’re the only person I trust with my son as much as I trust myself with him.” Eddie took another swig before continuing, wanting to make his information crystal clear to Buck. “After the well incident, I got my will sorted out. I hadn’t updated it since I left the Army, it was the kick I needed to do it. And in it, I want you to look after Chris if anything happens to me. I want him to stay in LA with his friends and everyone he knows, and I want you to be his guardian. He loves you like a Dad anyway, it just makes it official.” Eddie looked at his friend, and saw tears in his grey eyes.

“You mean it? You want me to look after him? I…Eddie I’m fucking honoured.” Buck didn’t know what to say, and he let the tears out. At the first sob, Eddie was off his chair and wrapped his arms around Buck, holding him tight as he sobbed. They stood like that as if time had stopped, until Buck gave a last sob and sat up, a watery smile on his face.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I did that.” They were still holding onto each other, and Eddie could feel the tension that sometimes came between them rising back up. He didn’t know who leaned in first, but their lips met. It was awkward at first, still and tense, and Eddie almost pulled away until Buck relaxed, kissing him back. It didn’t last long until they pulled away, staring at each other, both terrified of what the other would say.

“Shit, I didn’t mean…” Eddie trailed off, shrugging off Buck’s arms and stepping back. Fuck. He’d just ruined his friendship. He stopped as he felt Buck’s cast on his hand.

“Eddie, if you want that to be a ‘we just were curious’ thing, it can be just that. But I’ve felt more than that for you for a while. I was never going to do anything because I didn’t want to ruin our friendship, so if you want to go back to just friends we can. Or if you want something more, we can try that too.” Buck smiled, a sad, solemn one that broke Eddie’s heart.

“It wasn’t a one time thing,“ he said simply, reaching back in and kissing Buck again. This time was easier, they were expecting it and they just fit together. It was soft and sweet, and they stopped when Buck grimaced.

“What do you need?” Eddie asked, immediately back in EMT mode.

“My painkillers. I haven’t taken one since I got to Bobby’s earlier today, and the pain is back full force.” Buck barely had the words out before Eddie had the vial out of his jacket, getting a glass of water for him. Eddie knew that kitchen nearly as well as his own, and it didn’t take long to place them in front of Buck.

“Thanks,” he said, swallowing them down. “Look, Chris is probably nearly asleep. Do you guys want to stay over tonight? Nothing has to happen between us, but I really don’t want to be alone tonight.”

Eddie mulled it over for about a second before nodding. “Sure. If you don’t mind sharing a bed with a nine year old, I’ll take the couch. That sound good?” 

“I’ve a California King, the three of us can fit in the bed. No point you sleeping on a too short couch when we can have a comfy bed instead. Wanna lift him up? I’ll pull out sweats for you.”

Buck made it up the stairs to his loft, and opened the drawers to find clothes for Eddie. He grabbed an undershirt that should fit him, along with a pair of sweats he knew were comfortable for sleeping in. Before Eddie got upstairs, Buck stripped and changed into his own clothes, before pulling down the sheets and putting two pillows out for the boys. Eddie arrived up as he finished, Chris in his arms. They laid the nine year old out on one side, and covered him in his own blanket. Buck and Eddie got in themselves, curling up under the sheets. 

Buck felt Eddie’s body heat behind him and curled towards it, being the little spoon. Eddie, to his credit, put an arm over Buck and pulled him close. The two fell asleep, exhausted from the day before, and the new revelations making them even closer than before.


End file.
